Watch Dogs Legion: Day Zero

This was better than it had any right to be as a plugin for a video game. I am hoping the book gains more traction and publicity closer to the release date, simply because it was a charm. Especially after the difficulty I had finding the book listing on Goodreads in order to add it to my netgalley shelf. For a dystopic action-suspense pick, it doesn't require explicit knowledge of the Watch Dogs universe, though I do recommend a level of baseline familiarity. Much of it is just context for familiar 'big brother is watching' situations. The characters all feel real and realized in the world, even if they don't get the utmost in the way of characterization over the plot of the book. That's also a feature that can be tied to how characters and teams are formed in the upcoming game, though I don't know if it was intentionally constructed this way. If so, brava, and if not then the characters come to the table with enough that you aren't left wanting. The plot only suffers from some minor pacing issues, which make me waffle between a 4 or 5 star ending opinion. All-in-all, super solid game world realization.

I know this the prequel to a game I will never play but with 2 outstanding authors co-writing the tale then it was alway going to be good, I have no interest in the game but if they keep writing books I will keep buying them 😀

Veteran authors James Swallow and Josh Reynolds team up for modern, high-tech thriller Day Zero from Aconyte Books, a prequel novel to the Watchdogs: Legion video game. Trouble is brewing in an alternative but worryingly believable London, with organised crime rife, private military contractor Albion muscling in on the Met, and hacker collective DedSec leading an underground resistance. Tensions begin to escalate when a spate of shootings rock the East End, and players from all sides – local government, DedSec, Albion, the brutal Clan Kelley crime family – step up their efforts, as a deeper mystery starts to come to light in the battle for control of the city.

The story revolves around four characters – Olly Soames, a slightly hapless bike messenger and new-ish recruit to DedSec; Sarah Lincoln, the ruthless MP for Tower Hamlets South; Ro Hayes, a low-ranking enforcer for Clan Kelley; and Ro’s brother Danny, ex-soldier and now working for Albion. Between them they offer multiple viewpoints on proceedings, from the political battle taking place over Albion’s role in the East End to various interested parties trying to dig out information on why the shootings happened, and who or what lies behind them. They’re all born-and-bred Londoners who – deep down, in some cases – want to see their city survive and thrive, despite their personal differences, and Swallow’s affection for his home city comes through clearly in their backgrounds, their relationships with London, and their determination to protect home, family or just their own interests.

Even without the shootings, this version of London is a battlefield for competing factions, populated by a mixture of hardened criminals, morally exempt soldiers, career politicians and regular folk caught up in the fight. Once the first shot is fired, the plot speeds up into a breakneck thrill ride of hacking camera feeds, hijacking drones, soldiers clashing with coppers, bold heists and dangerous political power plays, as Albion doubles down on its street presence while its various opponents scramble to fight back. It’s pacy and action-packed, but the characters are more than strong enough to carry the story, helping to explore themes of ambition at all costs, and the dangers of allowing too much power to fall into the hands of corporations, all of which are deeply relevant right now.

As much as this is a smart, gripping thriller, it clearly comes from a sci-fi angle, with all the high-powered hacker tools and smart AI-personalities (think Iron Man’s Jarvis but with added sarcasm for DedSec’s AI Bagley). There’s nothing here that doesn’t feel possible, whether in terms of tech, politics or economics, while it’s also a love letter to a changing but still recognisable London, from the shifting of power to the geography of its streets and buildings. It certainly doesn’t feel like a tie-in novel; fans of Watch Dogs will see the connections, but there’s no need to know anything about the game when the plot, setting and characters are all so much fun and so clearly depicted. It does a great job of suggesting a future that might yet come to pass – if you’re so inclined, it’s easy to see this as a warning – but it’s also just a lot of fun, and ultimately proves to be an effective combination of Swallow’s sense for tight plotting and Reynolds’ enviable touch with dialogue and character.

I've played the first two Watch Dogs games and really enjoyed them, though I did prefer the narrative of the first game more as the second one felt a bit less engaging. But, I enjoyed the open world of the games, running around hacking into tech, collecting things around a huge map, and generally messing things up for big, evil corporations. I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Watch Dogs: Legion to get some more of this great franchise, though admittedly awaiting a second hand copy because I don't really want to support Ubisoft, one of those real life evil corporations.

Luckily, in the wait to play the new game I've had the chance to read the official prequel novel, Day Zero: A Watch Dogs Legion Novel. The book follows a handful of people across London as the private security firm Albion tries to get approval to take over for the police across the city. Opposing them are a number of politicians, as well as members of the underground hacker group Dedsec.

However, when a seemingly random man is shot dead at a political rally things in London begin to spiral out of control. A new courier for Dedsec, Olly, finds himself thrust into the centre of a conspiracy against Albion, and has to work alongside one of the organisations best to try and track down the killer. Meanwhile, one of the Albion troops, Danny, discovers that his sister Ro is working for one of the biggest criminal gangs in the city, something that puts them at odds with each other. The three of them end up being drawn together in a plot that's bigger than any of them could imagine, and one that sets the stage for sweeping changes in the nations capital.

A lot of the time with video game novel tie-in's you'll get a retelling of the events of the game, or possibly a sequel story that's quickly dismissed as not being canon when the next game in the series comes out. These books can be fun, but tend to have little impact to the universes they're set it. This book, however, feels a little different. I've not had the chance to play the game yet, but I've seen a lot of trailers and behind the scenes videos for it, and know that some of the characters that appear on the periphery of this story will be making appearances in the game, like Mary Kelley and Nigel Cass; it also benefits from being able to set up a lot of the background for the game, things which hopefully won't later be retconed away.

There are, however, a few characters in the book that I've not seen referenced in any of the promotion for the game, and these tend to be the characters that the readers get to follow. It could have been easy for the writers to pick a character like Sabine Brandt as the main protagonist, someone who would go on to play a big role in the game. The problem with doing something like that, however, would be that some readers would know that she's in the game, that she would have to survive the events of the book in order to appear later on in the timeline. By creating brand new characters for the novel Swallow and Reynolds are making it so that you're having to stay on your toes throughout, and are never sure if the heroes are going to make it out alive.

Sadly, the main characters are never really given a chance to really be focused on beyond what's strictly necessary for the story, and some like Olly come away feeling pretty underdeveloped as a result, especially when compared to Danny and Ro who do get quite a bit of their backstory given. However, the characters don't really come away feeling hugely important, instead it's the wold that is. Reynolds and Swallow are given the task of setting up the London that people will find in the game, to explain how things got to the point where armed militia are patrolling the streets. Yes, I'm sure that this will be gone into in the game, but getting to see it unfold in front of me in a book is so much better than having characters tell me about it in game, or having to piece it together by unlocking things in game.

I was hoping that the book was going to be a good read, having been familiar with the work that Swallow and Reynolds have done in other franchise, but was worried that this might be another throw away game tie-in, one that felt cheap,rushed, or inconsequential. Luckily, it was everything I was hoping it was going to be, and got me very excited to play the game. A brilliant introduction to the new game.

Bike messenger and wannabe troublemaker Olly Soames is the newest recruit to DedSec’s Resistance movement, but when a stranger is shot dead in front of him, he realizes that danger is closer than he thinks…

Sarah Lincoln is an aggressive young politician with questionable methods and big ambitions, and when a string of murders unfolds in her borough, it may be the opportunity she has been looking for to make a name for herself…

Ex-MMA fighter turned leg-breaker Ro Hayes is in deep with the vicious Clan Kelley, the most brutal organized crime firm in the city’s underworld, and her survival rests on uncovering a dead man’s secrets…

And for Danny, Ro’s estranged brother and former soldier, his new career with private military contractor Albion is leading him down a very dark path, toward choices he may never be able to take back…

Four lives are drawn into a murderous conspiracy that threatens to destroy Dedsec and plunge the city of London into chaos. Something very bad is going down in London town…

I’ll admit it, I’m a casual gamer at best. I pootle around on my PS4* dipping in and out of titles as the mood takes me. It turns out I’m all about 3rd person open world gameplay; Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us and Spiderman are all great fun and I go back to them again and again. It was only a few years ago that I discovered the Watch Dogs series and added it to my list of must have games. When I heard there was a prequel novel, Day Zero by James Swallow and Josh Reynolds, being released to tie-in with a third game in that franchise I was keen to learn more.

From the trailers of the game I’ve seen, I reckon the authors have totally nailed it when it comes to the book’s narrative tone. Explosions, gun battles, chases unfolding at breakneck pace; it’s all good clean fun.

The cast of characters are a motley bunch. We have a morally conflicted mercenary who is having more and more trouble discerning the difference between the good guys and the bad. Danny is used to following orders, but when those orders include treating friends and family like criminals have the authorities gone too far? Meanwhile Danny’s sister, Ro, is in deep with the local crime lords. Used to using her fists to solve problems, she finds herself involved in a conspiracy that Ro can’t punch her way out of.

The hacktivists who make up the London branch of DedSec attempt to rage against the corporate machine. They are always on the lookout for new talent and Olly Soames is their latest recruit. He has no problem with a bit of politically themed graffiti maybe even the odd cryptocurrency scam or two but Olly hasn’t made his mind up about moving things to the next level. Is he ready to take on a private army? The streets of London are at stake and Olly has to decide if he is prepared to go to war to save them.

There are also a host of mildly psychopathic West End gangsters who could be straight out of a Guy Ritchie film. The Gentlemen springs to mind immediately. I’m always happy when gangsters have suitably descriptive names as is the case here. Billy Bricks and Bloody Mary being prime examples.

The original Watch Dogs was set in Chicago. Watch Dogs 2 in San Francisco. For Watch Dogs: Legion, and this prequel novel, events move to London. Ever the melting pot, it is a perfect location for all the running about blowing stuff up. With the exception of autonomous murder drones and spider-bots buzzing around all over the place, it all sounds reassuringly like the London we all know and love.

As an aside, and I might be wrong, but I suspect there might even be the odd hint or two regarding gameplay in Legion for the eagle-eyed readers amongst you.

I suppose the ultimate objective of a tie-in novel is to interest the reader in the game or movie it is linked to. Day Zero does an excellent job of that. The authors have created a cheeky, cheery Cockney near-future tech thriller that acts as an ideal gateway to the game that is set to follow.

Day Zero is published by Aconyte and is available on Kindle now. The paperback edition is released on 12th November. It’s well worth checking out, especially if you are planning on immersing yourself in Watch Dogs: Legion when it is released.

Hmm, about some musical recommendations to accompany this novel? Well, I’m sure when the Legion is released, the soundtrack for that will be great. The music for Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2 would certainly suggest that will be the case. In the interim however, there are a few other options I can suggest. The soundtrack to the previously mentioned The Gentlemen by Chris Benstead is pretty damn good. Or perhaps The Gangs of London soundtrack by Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal, is also a good fit. The final option, if you feel the need for something a bit more full on, then pretty much anything from Celldweller’s hardcore industrial back catalogue is the way to go.

*Hopefully soon to be replaced by a PS5.

An excellent read, fast-paced and felt very much like I was back in London. Love that it finishes the exact moment the video game starts.